Redear, Actually Hawnjigs came up with the name from our correspondense and his initial sucess. He named my original small jig ,tied on his alloy heads, a "Basher" for the bunny&flashabou (plus calf tail) that I tied. Then when I began installing the props & cones, since they pushed back &cramped the thread a bit and it had a "woolie bug" appearance, it was a combo of bunny &woolie,he figured, so it became a "Boolie". And with the SJ Blend they become "Ghost Boolies" or just GhostBoos!Below is a list of notes on this pattern, as obsrved on the recent weekend trip that you may enjoy ;
Thought I'd list ,in no logical order, some of the things I saw at Vermilion(ohio) while testing the SF Blend "Ghost Boos", which I used exclusively. Now, the water color was dingy from the past week's waves,but not too bad-you could see the lure a few feet down,and make out SOME rock ledges & boulders. Some chop -especially yesterday early morning. But a few items here that can help both of us in shoreline jigging other freshwater spots! Here they are :
1) Redfish SF blend is HOT! Kind of a transparent orange that appears from above to be quite visible.Really good around rocks- a crayfish look? I'm gonna make a bunch of two tones with this orange tied as the belly.
2)Best retreive was 2 or 3 slow cranks, then let sink toward bottom. They took mostly on the drop.
3)Fish actually hold on to this crunchy material. Hooked some after the jig had bottomed, then noticed a swim -off ! Lost what may have been a nice carp or cat(woulda taken my species total to 14 !) as I stood their in a stupor as I wondered why the jig was moving slowly sideways after it touched down in 15' ! Got some nice crappies that held on after sinking deep.
4)5# Tectan mono is way superior to 5# Power Pro for dropping & sinking a 1/24 oz Boolie
5) My longer 6'3" old Skyline light action graphite rod allowed better working and control off the pier than did my 4'6" rod-superior distance & hook setting
6)In current, work the sideways drift as well as the drop -both are superior to a steady, straight retreive
7)Little hand scissors are easily accessable in your side pocket and prove to be the best to quickly remove moss & weed from around the propeller-just some quick scraping with both scissor blades at once
8)!/24 oz LEAD jigs are way heavier than your 1/24 oz alloy roundheads, and the leadhead doesn't give the nice glide and swim that yours do!
9)On the glide & swim in streams the 1/75 oz Boolie stays mostly horizontal, even when dropping free
10) The 1/75 (1/64?) Boolie spins constantly in stream current -even while drifting sideways
11)Retie GhostBoos OFTEN -rock & fish abuse +zebra mussels wears 4&5 lb test. I didn't have any fish break me off, but lifting a meaty sheepshead up the 3-5' distance to the pier almost always saw the line snap & a Boolie lost!(hey, like potato chips, I can always make more!)
12)Set with just increased rod PRESSURE(mostly from the REEL!), not a jerk or rip. Lots of strikes can ONLY be detected by an increased bend in the rod tip!
13) Don't plan on feeling many strikes, and in slight stream current even LESS(we're down to about zero actual feel!!) -just be aware of tiny increased line tension when starting a retreive
14)In Stream fishing, TENKARA rods No reel, a form of ultra-finesse Japanese fly fishing) with tiny ghostboos are really fun & effective! But light spinning rods & thin line is almost as good -even 1/64 can be cast 15-20' or more with light line
15) In streams, look for big rocks, even in relatively shallow water, and let an orange Ghost Boo drop right down beside it -unseen are crevasses where smallies & rock bass hide & they dart out to grab when something crab like and noisy plunks down beside their lair
16)Quesstimate when shallow bottom is reached in streams following a drop of the bool, then tighten a Tenkara rod (there is no "setting" or lifting with these wimpy sticks!)-more often than you'd expect, there's a nice fish holding on
